You’re Studying Wrong! The 2020 AP Exams
Coronavirus Education Update 4/15: Big Trouble on Little Campuses
April 17, 2020(Some) Colleges are Lying
May 10, 2020Almost everyone I’ve talked to has gotten the study plan for the abbreviated AP exams dead wrong.
Watching videos, reading Quizlet, reviewing notes, and reading the text is of limited and ever-diminishing value. They are too passive, too dependent on long attention spans, and they do not require enough effort.
Videos, Quizlet, and the like need to be your supplements, not your primary activity.
And…You can accomplish much more in less time.
Studying is not a matter of prolonged discomfort, no matter what messages media your peers and teachers have given you. Studying is a matter of learning something so you can use it. The key phrase is USE IT.
Here’s an equation for AP scoring...
Knowledge + Knowledge of the Test = 5
The Study Plan
Once you’ve done that, it’s not perfect, but it’s a good approximation of what you’ll see on test day. The difficulty of the question is in the interface with documents, tying different concepts, periods, and players together. Once you adjust the question, the time difference is a small consideration.
You can expect some exams (I’m thinking Physics and Calc for starters) to have more parts to the exam than are answerable. Don’t sweat running out of time, as long as you’re working competently and efficiently.
Adjusting the question will also give you great insight into the personality and patterns of the exam, incredibly important for those of you who are hunting a five.
